Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Further Signs of MSM PANIC MODE - Did Corporate News Anchors Just Beg Viewers to Avoid Social Media and Independent Journalism?

This is fine. Photo: Screencap/Deadspin

It has become abundantly clear that at some level, the corporate media (or those behind it) view the alternative media as an opposing force. The norm of MSM sources of ridiculing and poking fun at independent journalists—calling them conspiracy theorists and/or dismissing their valid observations altogether—has revealed the MSM to consider these alternative sources to be a sort of competition.

The independent coverage of the issues of gun control, paid protests, false flag attacks, and the now-popular subject of Q-Anon have revealed that independent media—in many ways—is now leading the way with regard to subject matters. According to recent reports, the MSM is now spending a notable portion of their news cycle performing what appears to be damage control against the constant flow of profound disclosures coming from reliable alternative news sources.

We may have become used to hearing MSM news readers making numerous suggestions that corporate media is somehow superior to all other forms of media. However, we will know that corporate sources do not write their own lines, they do not approve their own stories, and have little say as to what version of the truth they hand to the public.

It is also important to note the fact that global corporations are now so closely knit and interwoven that it is virtually impossible for any corporately sponsored source to cover a news story without the information affecting their own network of sponsors. In other words, MSM news sources cannot report thoroughly on any subject without implicating their own business within the actual report. (Read more here.)

The supposedly unquestionable "facts" which the MSM hands us three or more times per day may appear to be authentic, unique, and reliable. In reality, however, in many cases, these scripts are just that—scripts.

As we have known for some time, news reports are not simply created by journalists as in decades past. Instead, much of the news which audiences receive is created from a number of corporate sources which have their own agenda in mind. Among the numerous problems this situation produces, this anonymity prevents the audience from assessing the true reliability of the information. One clue we do have as to the reliability of these unseen sources is that instead of allowing news companies to perform real, transparent journalism, these anonymous sources choose to remain in the shadows and control the information audiences receive.

Below is an interesting article about a speech which the MSM uniformly promoted to an unsuspecting audience as actual news. However, upon closer examination, this speech of Sinclair Broadcasting affiliates seems to reveal more than a desire for honest, forthright communication.

It is true that this news story/speech was published on April 1st. However, its message does not appear to be any joke at all—at least not in the eyes of those who collectively chose to send it. It follows the now familiar narrative of, "Please don't leave us. Our sponsors want your money," and "If you watch YouTube videos, fake news will get you."

In the eyes of many of us in the audience, this odd public service announcement was actually humorous. Yet at the same time, this speech/performance was particularly revealing.

Over the last week or so, local television news anchors across the the country have joined together to paradoxically warn viewers about the “troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” The identical, seemingly earnest editorial messages paid lip service to the importance of fact-checking and unbiased reporting, but they also complained about “false news” and “fake stories.” If that seems to echo the rhetoric of President Trump, it’s probably because the statement was written by one of his allies.

The anchors were forced to read the so-called journalistic responsibility messages word for word by their employer, the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of television stations in the country. The features were one of Sinclair’s now infamous “must-run” segments, consisting of conservative commentary that every Sinclair-owned station is required to air.

Think Progress rounded up many of the “fake stories” segments for a chilling video on Friday, but Deadspin’s Timothy Burke published a much more terrifying version on Saturday, which at one point shows 30 of the segments synced up in unison:

“Hi, I’m(A) ____________, and I’m (B) _________________…(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Northwest communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that KOMO News produces.(A) But we’re concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories… stories that just aren’t true, without checking facts first.(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.(B) At KOMO it’s our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically ‘left nor right.’ Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to KOMOnews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual… We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback”

The Post Intelligencer adds that, according to a source at KOMO-TV, the anchors were “certainly not happy about it,” since the statements were “a forced thing.” One KOMO anchor also tweeted a columncriticizing Sinclair on Sunday. They aren’t alone in their discontent. CNN’s Brian Stelter has reported that other channels’ staff members resent the move, too. He has also reported that Sinclair instructed its channels to repeat the promos as often as possible “to create maximum reach and frequency.”

Here is the part of Sunday’s Reliable Sources that Stelter devoted to the Deadspin video and ongoing controversy:

Other Sinclair-forced segments have included commentary from former Trump advisers Boris Epshteyn and Sebastian Gorka, who recently warned Sinclair’s audiences that the deep state” was trying to undermine the president. The company also put its thumb on the scale for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, and periodically tries to keep Americans anxious about more than just bad weather with its Terrorism Alert Desk segments, which round up worldwide terror attacks.

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